Darkness' Touch

Chapter 54: Familiar Yet Foreign, Similar Yet Different

"Ah... Fuck. This dress is heavy."

Avy was crouched down on the grass, hiding behind the tall bushes that reached a standing adult's waist. It was afternoon, two days after the failed banquet, and the sun's glare sent waves of near-scalding heat that made Avy sweat continuously although she was staying still. Strands of her raven hair that was tied up in a bun had annoyingly stuck to her neck and onto the side of her cheek, and the multi-layered puffy midnight blue dress contributed a lot to the increasing temperature of her body.

Unfortunately, she could not afford to go back to her room to change lest she comes across the servants who were instructed by Duchess Ruebia to drag her into a Barbie party. It was the reason why she had to run away and hide. For someone like Avy who has the patience comparable to a strand of hair, three hours of playing dress-up was enough for her.

The noblewoman who was the cause of her current misery did not intend harm, of course. However, no matter how kind and well-intentioned the thought was, if it involved being physically and mentally exhausting, she definitely would rather not accept anything. She did not have anything against the older woman, in fact, the duchess adored her, considering how much effort she gave to make Avy feel like a normal teenage girl. Duchess Ruebia simply wanted to give her a break from living with a family which has no presence of a lady.

At first, everything was unclear to Avy as she was unfamiliar with the aforementioned older woman who showed affection towards her and bared her fangs at the Arkwright men. Thankfully, Ares was able to provide her with information that would make her less clueless about their family's relationship with Duchess Ruebia.

Her curse-servant, having lived inside the original Avy's body for years, told her everything he knew. The duchess was one of the mages that led the war during her time, and she was a close friend of Lord Alcasser's late wife, Princess Marzana Arkwright. After Princess Marzana died during the war, the lord fell into despair, neglecting their two sons in the process.

Duchess Ruebia then took it upon herself to look after Alton and Alistair until their father returned to his senses. Lord Alcasser, of course, didn't mourn forever and actually got better for the sake of his children. On the other hand, his and the vermilion-haired duchess' personalities always clashed.

However, that did not stop Duchess Ruebia from visiting every once in a while even after Alton became the duke and had his own children. Yet, the visits stopped when Duchess Sabrina Arkwright, Avy's mother, passed away. The reason why Ciel and Ashton were able to still keep in contact with her was because of the events where they saw each other. That being said, the original Avy never had the chance to reconnect with the woman, having already shut herself inside her room, dreading her own existence.

Avy understood the reason behind the older woman's eagerness to form a bond with her. She must have blamed herself for not being present in Avy's life, although she had a valid reason not to be. Duchess Ruebia lived in the South with her own territory to manage, having no other relative than her adoptive child to give her support.

However, Avy did not feel guilty about discreetly running away from the party and hiding from the servants. She probably could pick an outfit to wear out of the dozens of dresses that she tried on and another set of dresses that were drawn to her tastes. Duchess Ruebia reasoned that it was for the summit ball that will be held after a couple of days since it was postponed because of the mana blackout incident.

Avy could not understand what was going on inside the envoys' heads to still want to host a ball after what happened. She figured it was because they valued expanding their power and finding allies to cater to their greed were as important as their lives, if not more. She tried to convince her father to just send her back to the mansion since she has already shown her face enough. However, her request was utterly rejected.